Sisters
by Acacia Rose Masen
Summary: AU. AH. Follow Bella and her sisters as they find out what it is to be in love, part of a family, and to finally have the love of a mother. OOC. cannon couples. R&R please!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I own none of it.**

**AN: This is my first time writing, so please no flames! Constructive criticism is welcomed. I could definitely use the help to improve.

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**Prologue**

**Isabella Marie Swan**

**August 2008  
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_Directions: You are to write a five-page essay and give an oral report based on the word(s) you are given_. _This essay and oral report are due at the end of the school year. You should take this assignment very seriously as it will be the determining factor in your final grade. _

_Your word(s): Mother, Family_

Well, that doesn't sound too hard at all, does it? Wrong! Practically impossible! How in the world am I supposed to do this? I had no clue what moms have to do with family. I have some idea...

Some moms are: in the school PTA, in the front row at your ballet recital, the typical soccer mom who brings the team snacks, your room parent who plans class parties, cheering you on at your softball tournament, supporting your decisions, helping you put together an outfit for school picture day, encouraging you to keep going no matter what anyone else thinks of you. Those are some of the best things a mother can do for you besides love you.

My mother, well… we were never exactly on the best speaking terms. I thought she had finally settled down with Phil. She has been with him for almost eleven years! My mother even got married to him. She had come close only twice before. Most definitely more than you could say for the rest of her relationships. But no, of course she wouldn't settle down. She was married to Eleazor Denali for a year. She almost married James Hunter. But, my mother just couldn't stay with one man for long. At the most she would stay with them around a year. Nothing longer than that. So when we found out Renee of all people had been with Phil for two years... we actually hoped that this would be long term. It was ridiculous of me to believe she of all people would not eventually lose interest. She didn't even stick around with my dad for a full year. She had me and left.

It was needless to say I grew up without my mother in my life. So... how am I supposed to do this project?

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**Okay that's the prologue. Tell me what you think. Good? Bad? Okay?**

**Next chapter we hear from the sisters. The POV changes quite a bit in the next chapter but the rest of the story will pretty much be Bella. Maybe a little of Alice's take on things!**


	2. Sisters

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I own none of it.**

**AN: Once again, this is my first time writing so, please no flames! Constructive criticism is welcomed. I could definitely use the help to improve. **

**AN2: This chapter will be taking place about five years before the prologue. Also, I will be switching POVs in this chapter a lot but the majority of the story will mostly be in Bella's and Alice's point of view. Oh, and in this chapter there will be some very minor time jumps (about a month) between each POV change.

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**Chapter 1: Sisters**

**Mary Alice "Alice" Brandon**

**Late July 2003**

It was raining. Of course I didn't really foresee that as an omen about something bad happening today. Just inevitable. It always rained in Forks. I was staring at the hole in the ground—well, not a hole, a six-foot deep grave—when I felt my sister's arms wrap around me. I hadn't realized I was crying. But I should have known. I had been crying non-stop all week. Even in my sleep, it seemed I couldn't escape the tears. Can you really blame me though? One of the most important people in my life was taken away from me.

My father, Mick Brandon, was a general practitioner at Forks General Hospital. He was working late and I was over Bella's house waiting for him to pick me up. Only he never did. Charlie Swan, Chief of Police in Forks and Bella's dad, got called out on a nasty highway accident. He didn't want to leave us alone but they needed help and he's the chief so he left. Bella and I stayed up late trying to wait for him or my dad to come but we fell asleep in her living room waiting for them.

When Bella and I woke up we were in her room on her bed. Bella looked surprised to still see me here.

"Extended sleepover?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I dunno." I said, looking around. I didn't like the feeling that was starting to come over me.

We quietly went down stairs and entered the kitchen. Charlie was sitting in one of his old kitchen chairs with his head in his hands. It seemed that he didn't even notice we were standing there in the doorway. Bella cast me a worried glance before walking over to her dad.

"Dad? What's wrong?" When Charlie looked up, I just knew this would be bad news. I just didn't seem to realize how entirely this would affect me.

"Alice," Charlie started, "Honey, do you remember when I got called out last night? And I had to leave you and Bella here?"

"Yes," I hesitated—I had no clue where he was going with this, "There was a car accident and you had to help." I supplied.

"Alice, your dad was in that car crash."

I remember Charlie telling me the doctors did everything they could but it was too late. They couldn't save him. That's the last thing I registered before it all went black. The next thing I knew I woke up crying. Bella was there to comfort me. She later told me she didn't want me to wake up alone.

So here I was, one week later at my father's funeral surrounded by my sisters, friends, and the good people of Forks. If it weren't for Charlie, though, I would be headed off to some foster/group home or adoption agency right after the funeral ended. But he stepped in and he's been taking care of me.

You would think my own mother would be here to help me through this difficult time. But she's not. The man she is living with now, Phil Dwyer is—but that's only because he brought his daughters, my youngest sisters to be here for me. No my mother isn't here and to be honest I don't care. I learned at a very young age not to count on her for anything. Of course most adults would and do consider me to be quite young. I'm only ten years old, after all, and apparently I'm quite small compared to other girls my age. I prefer petite or, rather, fun-sized.

Even though I'm young, my sisters and I have been through a lot. And all because of one person. Our mother. Though the majority of us just call her Renée. In fact the only ones that call her "mom" are Jenny and Sandy. But that's not the point. The point is Renée is flighty and scatterbrained and can't be counted on. The only thing I truly believe she can be counted on to do is cheat on the man she is with, get pregnant with another man's baby, leave man she was with for her new baby's daddy and once the kid is born stick around for a few months and then the cycle repeats.

I bet I sound a bit sarcastic and mean for a ten-year-old girl but I'm not usually like this. Its only when I talk or think about Renee that I m not my usually hyper and bubbly self. Just ask anyone.

I shook my head as my tears continued to fall and Mr. Webber started to pray that my father be welcomed into the Lord's Kingdom.

**Melanie Shayna "Mel" Malone**

**Mid August 2003**

"Come on Mel! You have to join soccer with me!" My best friend and half-sister, Kris, told me. She is younger than me by eleven months and even though we were close in age she reminded me of our older sister, Alice. She wasn't crazy hyper about everything. Kris was just really good at and inspired by soccer. I preferred to be playing softball, actually. But that was a spring sport.

"Mel! Play soccer with me and I'll play softball with you later! Please!"

"I dunno. I'm horrible at soccer…"

"No you're not!"

"Whatever. I'll think about it okay?"

"Sheesh. Okay. What's wrong with you?" With the way she said it most people would have taken it with some offense but I knew Kris. I've known her all my life. I knew what she really meant to say was, _you know you can talk to me about anything._

"It's just that, Alice's dad died last month."

"Yeah, poor Alice." Kris murmured.

"I don't know what I would do with out my dad. He's all I've ever known about family besides you and the rest of our sisters."

"Oh. Well, Alice has Charlie and Bella now. She's doing fine, we talked to her last week remember?"

"That's true." I conceded. "But it hasn't even been a month yet. I can't believe that she's doing fine. She's probably just putting on a brave face so we don't see how sad she really is."

"Well, you're right. Alice is the kind of person that would keep something from us if she didn't think we could handle it. Maybe we should call Bella and see how she's really doing. So you're worried about something happening to your dad?"

"I think we should. And yeah, I am worried about something happening to my dad." I nodded.

"You know you don't need to worry! Nothing is going to happen to Laurent. And you know you have me and my dad. I think you worry as much as Bella does."

"Hey I don't worry about everyone and every little thing!"

"It'll be okay Mel! Don't worry! Maybe you should talk to your dad about how you really feel."

"Okay, you're right. Thanks."

"You're welcome. So how about you join me at the soccer try-outs next week?"

I had to laugh. Kris was fun to hang out with and she really knew how to make me laugh. I was still worried about my dad and all but I knew I would have the support of my sisters if anything bad were to happen. I would probably be talking to my dad very soon about how I was feeling.

**Lynette Karen "Lynn" Hunter**

**Mid September 2003**

There was a loud noise outside that woke me up in the middle of the night. I got up from my bed and looked out my window. There was a big truck outside parked in front of the house with the FOR SALE sign next door. Men were moving boxes inside.

So we are finally getting some new neighbors. I hope they have kids my age. The last people to live there were some cranky old people who yelled from their porch a lot.

I didn't like them.

When the moving men were done I decided to go back to bed and ask Daddy in the morning if he knew about the new neighbors.

"Lynn. Lynn, wake up! After breakfast, you and I are going to go introduce ourselves to the new neighbors and welcome them." That was fine with me. I wanted to see if I could make some new friends.

Once I was done getting dressed and finished brushing my straight, light brown hair. I went downstairs to have some Lucky Charms for breakfast.

"Hey there, little Angel. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes I did. Do you think the new people have any kids for me to play with?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure if they have kids or not. Guess we'll just have to see when go meet them."

"Okay. As long as they are not cranky old people I'll like them." I said while wrinkling my nose. My daddy seemed to think this was really funny because he was laughing.

"I'm sure they're not. Now finish your breakfast."

"Okay."

Once I was done eating my cereal, daddy put our bowls and spoons in the dishwasher and we walked over to the house next door.

Daddy rang the doorbell and a few seconds later a young lady with long, curly, bright red hair and pretty blue eyes opened the door.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked.

"Hi! We're your neighbors! My name is Lynn and this is my daddy! Do you have any kids?" I asked.

"Lynn!"

"What?" I asked turning towards my daddy. He gave me the warning look but before he could say anything we heard a giggle. Both of us turned to see it came from the lady who answered the door.

"Hello Lynn and Lynn's daddy. I guess that means I'm your new neighbor. Umm… no sorry, I don't have any kids. Just a brother."

"Oh," I was a little sad that she didn't have any kids that I could play with but when she mentioned "brother" it made me think of my sisters, "How many brothers do you have?"

"Only one. Thank goodness though. I don't think I could stand having anymore messy boys around!" she laughed and so did I.

"I don't have any brothers but I have five older sisters and two younger sisters." I smiled.

"Seven sisters? There are eight of you all together?" She asked, her eyes wide open.

"Yup." She turned to look at my dad.

"You have eight daughters?" he surprised her by laughing.

"No. but Lynn's mother has eight daughters. All of Lynn's sisters have different fathers." Daddy explained to the pretty lady.

"Oh, well," The lady stuck out her hand to daddy with a smile on her face, "My name is Victoria, Victoria Adams."

"James Hunter, pleasure to meet you." Daddy said taking her hand.

**Janine Tanya "Tanya" Denali**

**Early October 2003**

*Beep*Beep*Beep*

SMACK

My hand came flying down on the old alarm clock. Through my bleary eyes I could see the clock read 3:30AM. Yeah, who in their right mind gets up at almost four in the morning when they don't have to? I do, because I have to. It's moving day. Well actually the moving has been going on for weeks now. Our nearly empty house is proof of that. The only things here were a few sleeping bags and alarm clocks. And the people to be sleeping in them and woken up by them.

_But apparently an alarm clock isn't considered good enough to get the job done for my sisters… _I thought as Kate and Irina rushed into my room and dog piled me.

"Tanya! Get up! We're moving! Come on!" Irina giggled.

"I would, but you're on top of me!"

"Come on Irina; let's leave Tanya here so we can get our chocolate chip pancakes first!" Kate whispered, conspiratorially. With that they took off running. I shook my head at my sisters' antics. It was a little hard to believe that the three of us were sisters, what with Kate and I both being eleven years old and Irina being ten. The truth is we are cousins not sisters. Our mothers had been sisters; Renée and Sasha Higginbotham. Renée was older by two years leaving Aunt Sasha to be the baby of the family. But Renée didn't play the typical older sister role, of course she didn't play the typical mother role either. Sasha was the responsible one. Only two daughters and they both have the same father. Even had a biological brother.

But bad things happen to good people. Aunt Sasha, Uncle Gavin, and their two year old son, Vinny was in a "freak highway accident". Kate was five and Irina was four.

_Freak highway accident,_ I thought. The reason our family just happened to be moving from Juneau, Alaska—my home for my whole life—to Seattle, Washington. I was trading snow for rain. My younger sister, Alice, lost her father to a highway accident involving some drunken teenagers a couple of months back. Our family flew out to Seattle and made the three hour drive to be there for her. I wasn't surprised to see our other sisters there to support and comfort her. I was surprised to see Jenny and Sandy there. They live in Phoenix, Arizona. Our youngest sisters who were then only a month away from being six years old are nothing like the rest of us. For one thing Renée lives with them. This is the longest time she has settled down and they know that, which makes them something that the rest of us are not. Smug and spoiled little brats. Truth hurts.

Anyway, my dad, Eleazar Denali, thought it would be better to live closer to my sisters, in case "anything of this magnitude" were to ever happen again we would be somewhat nearby. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I reached over to scoop up my extra set of clothes I had set out. When I was through changing I balled up my pajamas, retrieved my purple and green alarm clock, and threw them in my backpack. I rolled up my sleeping bag and then gathered my backpack, as I did this I took one last look around my room and shut the door.

As I went down to the kitchen, I dropped my bags next to everyone else's. I heard my sisters laughing as Carmen made her special chocolate chip pancakes.

"There you are! If you didn't hurry on down here, your dad might have made it before you and eaten up your pancakes!" Carmen explained.

Carmen was a wonderful person. She was nice and kind and she was just good. She was my Aunt Sasha's best friend and well when my aunt was in that accident, she asked Carmen to take Kate and Irina and care for them as her own. Aunt Sasha might have asked Renée to take care of Kate and Irina except with her track record of never having a stable home and twin daughters on the way on top of her other responsibilities (that she shirked and left forgotten), well I'm not surprised she asked Carmen to take her daughters.

It was only a couple of months later that Carmen and my dad met. They started dating and they fell in love. The next thing Kate, Irina, and I knew was that my dad asked Carmen to marry him. She said yes and the wedding planning began. Carmen was worried that I wouldn't like her and accuse her of trying to be my mom. I told her she was being silly. Renée hadn't been around since I was born. She cheated on my dad with Mick and had gotten pregnant with Alice. Though, I once did blame Mick and Alice for Renée leaving us, I changed my tune when I saw Renée's pattern.

"You ready to go Princess?" My dad asked me. While I had been eating, lost in my thoughts he must have come in.

"Yeah dad, I am." I replied with a smile. We quickly gathered up what we could, cleaned our dishes, and outside. My dad and Carmen put the bags in the back, Kate and Irina climbed into the back seat, and I took one last look at our house before joining my sisters as dad started the drive off to the airport that would have a direct flight to Seattle, Washington.

**Kristina Nicole "Kris" Stryker**

**Late November 2003**

I looked at myself in the mirror. I had my dads bleach blond hair and the same shade of Renée's clear blue eyes. Out of all my sisters, I was one of the two who had one of her physical features. The other would be Bella. They had the same heart-shaped face.

But Bella didn't care if she looked like Renée or not. Just as long as she didn't act like her. That's how all my sisters felt. I agree with them but, well, I like that I have her eyes. Its proof that I do have a mom. I sort of wish that Renée would be the right kind of mom. That she would have loved us enough—my dad and I—not to leave us.

I would never tell my sisters this because they certainly wouldn't like the fact that I felt this way. I know Renée has done a lot of bad things but I want a family. A mom. Tanya has a family. And the others are content with just having a dad, it seems.

My sisters would call me crazy to even think about having Renée in my life so I haven't bothered to tell them about my feeling. I think that Mel knows I'm keeping a secret from her. She always knows about stuff like that. It must be an older sister thing. I wouldn't know seeing as one of my younger sisters lives in Olympia and my youngest sisters' lives in Arizona.

"Come on Kris! Lets go!" my dad yelled form somewhere downstairs.

It was Thanksgiving today and we are all going to Tanya's new house in Seattle. It was rare that all of us would spend a holiday together. So I am excited and I know Mel is too. The last time we were all together was at Mick's funeral. Not exactly the time and place to have fun with your sisters.

"Coming Dad!"

I wasn't really sure how our own dad's felt about being around each other, especially considering they all had a daughter from the same lady.

But if they didn't want to do this they didn't say anything about it just so we could see our sisters and hang out with each other.

**Isabella Marie "Bella" Swan**

**Mid December 2003**

"BellaBellaBella! Wake up!"

"Alice, go away!" I moaned. "Stop jumping on my bed!" The shaking of my bed—and me—stopped but I could still feel Alice was still there. After all she didn't give up that easily. I wasn't that lucky.

"Oh don't be so mean. Do you know what today is? Do ya, huh?"

"Friday?"

"Yes, Bella, its Friday. What else?"

"I don't know Alice."

"Bella! It's the last day of school before winter break. We get out early today!"

"Okay," I was starting to actually wake up a little bit. I opened my eyes to see an excited, bubbly and bouncing Alice, "so?"

"Bella!" Alice shrieked in my ear, "its shopping day! Charlie's gonna take us to the mall in Port Angeles today after school so we can buy our Christmas gifts!" as she said this I looked at the clock that was hanging on the far side of my room.

"Alice! Its 6:00AM! You do realize we don't have to be up till 7:00? I'm never gonna get back to sleep now!" I whined. Alice knew I liked my sleep. Yet she was constantly keeping me up late and waking me up early.

"I'm sorry Bella. I was just so excited." Alice sighed. I instantly felt bad. She was actually excited about something. It had been almost five months since her father had passed away. And she was just now starting to act like the hyper sneaky little Pixie she was before. I was really worried about her in the beginning.

_**Flashback:**_

"_Goodnight dad."_

"'_Night Bells. See you in the morning." I smiled at him and made my way upstairs._

_Alice had gone to bed early this evening. It's been three months since her dad died. Today had been a particularly tough day for her because it was Mick's birthday. She was devastated because she was thinking about having a surprise party for him this year. Alice never got to plan it though. I sighed as I passed Alice's room. I decided to look in on her._

_*Knock*Knock*Knock*_

"_Alice?" I called just as I entered her room across the hall from me. I looked around but I couldn't see Alice anywhere in the room. "Alice?" I quieted down as I heard some sniffling coming from inside the walk-in closet. I opened the door to the closet and saw Alice curled into a ball on the floor in the far corner._

"_Oh Alice!" I crossed the floor of the closet, sat myself on the floor right next to her, and wrapped my arms around her small figure. "Its okay, just let it all out. I'm here for you and so is Charlie. And all of our sisters, you know that. You can talk to me about anything."_

"_Bella," she whimpered into my shoulder and neck, "I miss him so much! It hurts to think about him but if I don't I'm afraid that one day I will forget what he looks like. I'm really glad that your dad is taking care of me and letting me live with you guys but I want my daddy back!" she cried._

"_You won't forget him, Alice. He was your father there is no way you can forget him."_

"_Maybe I won't forget who he was but what if I forget what he looks like? Bella what if I can't remember my fathers face?"_

"_Then we will go to your house and find all of your pictures of you and your dad. Don't forget about your home videos either. You said you had them in your attic."_

"_That's right. Bella, can you come with to get my pictures? Do you think Charlie could take us there on the weekend?"_

"_Of course I can come with you Alice. And Charlie too, you know he will be there for you."_

"_Thank-you Bella. I don't want to forget my dad."_

"_I know Alice, and you're welcome."_

_**End Flashback**_

"Alice, its okay, I'm excited too. Don't be upset. You know how cranky I am in the morning."

"Are you mad at me?" she asked. Oh man, she was using her sad puppy dog eyes. I couldn't resist, with the way she made her light grey eyes look big and round and her bottom lip was shaking, to try and make her feel better.

"No Alice, and to prove it, I'll even let you dress me today."

"You will?" she asked immediately beginning to bounce up and down. "I have the perfect outfit for you to war today!" Alice jumped up and ran to my closet. She threw open my closet doors and started sifting threw my clothes.

I shook my head. This was typical Alice. Even at ten year old she loved to shop and put together outfits. It's her dream to become a fashion designer. And I'm her Barbie doll. Not something I like but I put up with it because she's Alice. That's the way she is. She and I are in the same boat… along with the rest of our sisters.

I sighed thinking of my sisters. Last we seen them, it was during Thanksgiving at Tanya's house. It was good to see them at this time. I'm really glad Tanya and her family moved closer. It would be easier to see them now. I loved my sisters and even though Renée is my least favorite person in the world there's no way I would wish any one of them away.

"Here, Bella! This outfit is perfect for you to wear today!" Alice said setting down eh clothes she picked out for me in my lap. "Hurry up and get dressed. I want to braid your hair." She started to walk away.

"Allie?" I called to her, using one of her nick names, just as she got to the door.

"Yes?" She turned around to look at me.

"I'm really glad you're my sister." I told her. She grinned.

"I'm really glad I'm your sister, too, Bells." I smiled in return. "Now hurry up! The day is wasting away and I need to braid your hair!" She teased.

I mock saluted her and rushed to the bathroom with my clothes hand, the both of us laughing.

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**Okay so there's chapter one. It's kind of a get to know who the girls are chapter before diving into the rest of the story.**

**Review? Please? Tell me what you think. But please no flames.**

**Next chapter is set closer to what happened in the prologue.**


	3. Summer Vacation

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I own none of it. Well except for Mel, Kris, Lynn, Jenny, and Sandy.**

**AN: Well here's chapter two. It's a little OOC but I hope you like it! Sorry for any errors! Please review!

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**Chapter 2: Summer Vacation**

**Bella Swan**

**August 2008**

"Alice! Come on! The summer is wasting away!"

"I'm almost done! Just give me two minutes!" I heard her yell from upstairs.

"You said that already! Ten minutes ago!"

"Oh calm down Bella! I'm ready." Alice said as she walked down the stairs to meet me in the living room.

"Yeah and we're late. Rose and Jasper are probably already there, wondering where we are."

"Bella, really? It's the only movie theater in town. We can be there in like ten minutes."

"Alice, really?" I said throwing the words back in her face. "The first movie starts in fifteen minutes!"

"Well then, we better get going!" she said and skipped right past me out the front door. I followed her not wanting to be later than we already were for the movie. It was one of the last few outings we could get with Jasper and Rosalie seeing as how they were away most of the summer visiting family in New York and Texas and they didn't get back until just last week.

So we obviously didn't get to spend much time with them this summer in fact we decided on jamming three months worth of summer fun into just three weeks. We had all spent the day at the park playing ultimate Frisbee and had agreed to go home, shower, and change so that we could catch a double feature at the cinema. Alice and I were kind of ignoring our other friends in favor of Jazz and Rose. Though it wasn't exactly like we had never done this before. Jasper Whitlock and Rosalie Hale were our closest friends. They knew everything about us and we knew everything about them.

"Bella! Alice! Over here!"

We had just entered the cinema and we saw Jasper and Rosalie off to the right near the first of the four theater rooms. Jasper was holding the jumbo popcorn bucket in one hand and the drinks in the other. Rosalie stood next to him with the tickets in her hands.

"Hey guys! Sorry we took so long." I said.

"Yeah, why were you two late anyway?" Rosalie asked. "We thought you weren't going to make it."

"Alice." I replied.

"Of course!" the two said together—as if this was an acceptable reason and the only reason at that, that we were always late.

"Hey!" Alice whined.

"Alice hey is for horses." Jasper told her. We all laughed.

"Humph." Alice pouted.

"All right, I think we should go grab our seats before the movie starts." Rosalie said—though she was trying not to laugh.

"Thanks Rose." Alice said, with a roll of her eyes she walked passed us and through the doors of the theater. Rosalie followed.

"Here Jazz, let me grab the drinks."

"Thanks Bells."

We joined Alice and Rose in the theater.

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"That movie was so scary!" Alice exclaimed. Once we left the theater it was still light outside, surprisingly, because of the summer season.

"Oh come on! The first movie was so fake! Don't even get me started on the first." Jasper responded.

"It was too scary!" She yelled in defense.

"Yeah Jasper," Rosalie said, "Those movies scared me so much! Gave me goosebumps!"

"You two get scared so easily. Bells? Did you get scared of either of the movies?"

"Well… not really. It seemed scary at first but after that guy's blood squirted about fifteen ft. from his body it just seemed so… unrealistic."

"This coming from the girl who freaks out at the site of blood." Jasper said, shaking his head as if he were proving a point.

"Oh, whatever!" Rosalie sighed, "It was still scary to some people."

I laughed. Typical Rose—always getting the last word in. We continued walking and talking about the movie when we came to the place where we would go our separate ways.

"So, we're going to La Push tomorrow, right?" Alice questioned.

"Yeah, my car should be ready by 8:30AM so, Jazz and I'll head over to pick it up. That way we can come pick you two up around nine-ish to head down to the beach." Rose answered.

"Sounds good to me." I said. Both Jasper and Alice nodded their heads in agreement.

After saying our goodnights and with promises of seeing each other tomorrow we went our separate ways home.

"Bella? Do you think Jasper likes me?" Alice said out of the blue. We were about two blocks away from home when she asked that.

"Umm… yeah, you're his friend. Of course he likes you."

"No, do you think he likes me?"

"Yeah, he's your friend." I restated.

"Bella! Do you think that Jasper likes me, likes me? As more than a friend!" she exclaimed.

"Oh… Oh. OH!" was all that was capable of spluttering through my mouth. Finally, after a full minute, something better than just 'oh' was able to make an appearance. "Do you like him? As more than a friend?"

"Yeah, I do!" she admitted to me quietly.

"For how long?" I asked.

"I think I've always sort of liked him as more than a friend." Alice admitted shyly. "I didn't even really know for sure until this summer." She continued.

"But," I started, my eyebrows scrunching up in confusion, "Jazz wasn't even here for more than half the summer. He just got back last week."

"I know, he was gone and I didn't realize how much I would miss him. I mean I knew I would miss both him and Rose but well, you know what they say—

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder?" I supplied. She heard the question in my voice.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that to happen. Do you think he likes me that way?" she asked me. I didn't need to look into her eyes to know how exited she would be. This was a tough line to walk.

On the one hand, Alice was my sister. It was my job to protect her, encourage her, give her some hope, and be there for her. And on the other hand, Jasper was my very first and best friend. I knew every single one of his secrets. I knew stuff about Jasper that Alice didn't; I knew stuff about Jasper that even his sister, Rosalie, didn't.

With that in mind, how was I supposed to tell my sister that my best friend had a crush on our cousin, Irina? Could I just tell her that? I don't believe I could. Maybe I could just get a confirmation from Jasper first, find out if he still like Irina or if he could possibly like Alice. No offense to our cousin or anything but I was hoping for the latter of the two choices.

"Well, what do you think? Do you think that Jasper likes me?" I could here the hope in her voice so I decided to play dumb and find out for sure from Jasper.

"I honestly don't know, Alice. I mean he'd have to be crazy not to see you're a great person that he should want to get to know. I know he likes you as a friend. I just don't know about more than that…" I trailed off.

"Do you think maybe, maybe you could talk to him for me? Find out if he likes me? Please Bella? Please!" Alice was practically begging me. What was I supposed to say?

"Of course, I'll talk to him Alice." The words were barely out of my mouth before she was hugging me in a death grip.

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! You're the best Bells!"

"You're welcome, now Alls? I can't breathe."

"Oops. Sorry!" she said releasing me. We continued on our walk home.

"So, Jasper, huh?" I teased. To my surprise, Alice actually blushed.

"Well, yeah. He's so nice, calming, and funny." Alice said in a dreamy voice.

"Wow, Alice, you really do like him." I said with wonder and a bit of worry in my voice. If Alice really liked Jasper that much what would happen if I had to report back to her that he didn't like her but he did happen to like Irina?

A tricky line to walk, divided into two lanes. And I was staggering around trying to figure out which way to go; left or right, Alice or Jasper? One would probably say that the choice was obvious. I should choose my sister. But Jasper was important too. I've known him almost as long as Alice and in a sense he was like my big brother. He was almost a year older than I was but we were still in the same grade. And even though he and Rose were closer in age—she was born in July of '92 and Jasper was born in November of '92—Jasper is my best friend, the same way Rosalie is Alice's best friend. Jasper is like my brother, the same way he is Rosalie's brother. Right now, I guess the only thing I can do is wait to see how this all plays out.

* * *

When we got home we talked with Charlie about our plans for tomorrow and then decided to turn in early for the night. Charlie was actually going to go fishing with Billy Black and we decided that once Alice and I were done hanging out with Jasper and Rosalie we would meet Charlie back at Sue's place so that we could have dinner together. It wasn't unusual that we would go to Sue's house and have dinner with her and her kids; Leah and Seth. Or that they were at our house most of the time. Seeing as my dad and their mom were dating for the past three years and Charlie finally proposed on New Years Day.

It was literally the first thing he asked her after the count down to the New Year. Sue was ecstatic to say the least. She said yes and the plans for the wedding have been going on ever since. The wedding is actually a little over three months away and is going to be winter themed—taking place on December 24th; Christmas Eve. My dad and Sue decided on a small wedding with only family and friends they are close to.

Alice and I had a long conversation about how I felt about Charlie and Sue getting married. I told my dad that I was fine; that I was happy for him. Which I am, I am truly happy for them both. Sue is wonderful and kind; possibly the best woman out there for my dad—especially after all the heartbreak that he had to go through with Renée. Sue really does love my father which makes it easy to accept her into our lives when she and Charlie started dating.

I had told Alice as much but I also told her I wasn't sure—and I'm still not—if I wanted Sue to act like she was my mother or not. I was fifteen years old and I had never considered Renée to be my mother—even when I was a child—so it was all going to be new to me about what having a step-mother in a few months would entail. Jasper has a step-mother and he calls her mom, of course he's known Lillie since he was two years old. I've know Sue for practically all my life but she was always Harry Clearwater's wife, his young widow—and a few years ago—Charlie's girlfriend, and now fiancé.

I'm not saying that she would be a bad mother. Leah and Seth are totally great. Sure Leah was a bit upset, to say the least, with us when she found out her mother was starting to date soon after her father's death but she realized—like I did—that they make each other happy and that's all that should really matter. Seth was really fine with all of this. He liked my dad and saw his mom genuinely smiling for the first time since his father passed. It was only a few months after the proposal went down that Seth confided in me that he always saw my dad as a second father to him.

If someone were to ask me who in my life would I see as a mother figure I guess the answer to that would have to be Sue. When I look back on it she was always doing stuff for me, she was there, she was always talking to me about my day, and she takes a general interest in my life. So why was it all so hard to make the transition? Why was it so hard to associate Sue with _mother_? There must be something wrong with me.

I groaned and turned over on my side. The clock on my wall read 11:45PM. It was late and if I wanted to get some sleep before Alice woke me up—earlier than necessary, no doubt—I would need some rest to face the day tomorrow. I let my mind drift away from Charlie and Sue, away from the wedding, away from Alice and her crush on Jasper, away from the conversation I would most likely be having with Jasper tomorrow.

* * *

As promised, Rose and Jazz picked us up around 9AM. We headed off to La Push's First Beach in Rose's red M3 BMW convertible that had been in the shop for the past two days. She had complained about the price she had to pay the whole way to the beach…

"I should have just fixed the car on my own, but 'no!' my mother says, 'just have John Dowling take a look at it' she says. Yeah right! That's the last time I go to Dowling's! I will fix my car myself and if there's too big of a problem, I'm taking it to Port Angeles. They're much cheaper up there." She grumbled.

It was a good thing it was a short ride—otherwise we may never have survived. When we got to First Beach we could see it was definitely a good day to go. Jasper helped us set up before taking off to the water to surf. Rose started to talk to us about what kinds of things we did this summer and she filled us in some more about New York and Texas. I didn't know if Alice told Rose about her crush on Jasper so I didn't bring it up.

Somehow we did get onto the topic of Tyler Crowley.

"I think Tyler's going to ask you out sometime very soon Rose, possibly within the first couple of weeks of school starting." Alice informed.

"Eww! Why would he do that? Why would you tell me that?"

"He's been talking about you all summer." I supplied.

"Oh that reminds me, watch out for Lauren. Let's just say she's not too happy about this new development."

"Well isn't that just great!" Rose said. "An unwanted admirer and an unwanted enemy." Alice and I both giggled.

"I can see how Lauren might be an unwanted enemy—the girl fights dirty even when there's nothing to fight over—but how is Tyler an unwanted admirer? I thought you had a crush on him?" Alice inquired.

"Yeah maybe when we were six but now he's just annoying—an unwanted admirer. Speaking of unwanted admirers, Bella, here comes yours." Rose warned.

I quickly turned to look in the direction that Rose was gazing at and saw Jacob Black walking along the shore with his two best friends Quil Ateara Jr. and Embry Call. I internally groaned, they were walking towards us and no doubt they had already seen us. There was no way for me to escape. You see, Jacob was a friend of our families. His father, Billy Black, was Charlie's best friend. And Jacob had been a good friend of mine too. Sometimes we hung out when we came to La Push. When Billy would visit Charlie, Jacob would come along. He was a good friend. That was until he felt that I should be made aware of his feelings for me.

It was terrible because I had no idea what to say. I knew that I didn't like him like that. He was just my friend, nothing more. Well I decided honesty was the best policy and told him the truth. And what did he do? He smiled and said, "That's okay, you don't feel like that now but I'm quite persistent, Bella." Needless to say since then he's been trying to get me to go out with him and make me see him in a different way. Key word is 'trying'. If Jacob is sooo "persistent" then I'm just plain stubborn. But telling him no for this long has gotten old and he's just become more annoying, so I decided to just ignore him and avoid him whenever possible.

"Hey Bella!" Jacob said, plopping himself right down next to me. I internally groaned, once again.

"Hello Jacob." I replied—I wasn't that rude, I could at least be polite.

"How has your summer been? I haven't seen you down here much."

"Oh well you know I've been spending some quality time with Alice and my sis—cousins." I was about to say sisters but corrected myself at the last second. Not everyone in this town—in fact no one—knew that Alice and I had other half sisters. They only knew that Renée had cheated on Mick with Charlie shortly after giving birth to a premature Alice and had gotten pregnant with me. No one knew Mel, Kris, and Lynn were our half-sisters. Everyone thought that Tanya was our cousin, that Tanya's biological sisters are Kate and Irina. It was true enough that Irina and Kate are just like her sisters but still…

"Oh that's cool," Jacob said interrupting my thoughts once again, "so do you want to take a walk with me down the beach?"

"Uh," I said looking to Rose and Alice for help, "Actually Jacob," I said looking out to the shore where I could see Jasper heading back towards us, he was still pretty far away, "I have to go talk to Jasper about something. So if you'll excuse me!" I said jumping up. Sure I was running from one difficult situation to another but I really could not deal with Jacob right now.

"Hey Jazz!" I called as soon as I was a couple of feet away from him.

"Bells," he said, "escaping Jacob I see."

"Yes, he just won't quit! When will he get a clue?"

"Hmm… maybe not 'til you're married." I groaned, he laughed.

"Guess I'm getting married young after all."

"Hey are you okay?" Jasper asked abruptly. I knew we weren't talking about the Jacob situation anymore.

"Yeah, why would you say that?" I asked, running a hand through my mahogany colored locks. Jasper's sapphire-blue eyes narrowed at the action.

"Because you wouldn't meet my eyes at all today—you still aren't—and you hardly talked to me and when you're nervous about something you run your hands through your hair." Darn. I knew it would be obvious to Jasper. I hadn't even realized I'd been doing that stuff.

"Well, I was just wondering…"

"Wondering?" he prodded.

"Well, do you maybe, umm… do you still like Irina?"

"Irina?" he questioned. He obviously didn't know which way this was heading and was shocked I would mention my cousin. "Is that why you won't talk to me? You're wondering if I still have a crush on your cousin." Jasper was looking into my light brown eyes and could see I was telling the truth.

"Umm, yeah." I replied weakly.

He looked at me strangely before replying, "Actually no, I don't. Now would you tell me what this is all about?"

"You don't?" I was feeling relieved but still worried about asking if he had any feelings for Alice.

"Bella? Seriously, what's this all about?"

"I'll tell you, just hold on a second." I paused to make sure he wasn't going to interrupt me, "If you don't like Irina anymore, is there someone you do like? As more than a friend?" I hinted. I saw him freeze and look over my shoulder again. I turned to see his gaze on the spot where I left Rose an Alice to deal with Jacob and his friends.

"No." he said stiffly turning his gaze back towards me. He wouldn't look at me in the eyes.

"Jazz, I know when you're lying to me, okay? So cut it out and tell me the truth." I demanded of him.

He finally looked me in the eyes. "Bella, I like Alice, okay? I really do. She's amazing and beautiful. Sure she can be way too hyper but that what makes her, her." He sighed, "But there's no way she could possibly like me like that…" he trailed off.

I was in shock. Well, I was happy that Jazz felt the same way about Alice that she did about him. But I was in shock because I had never heard Jasper talk that low and nervously fast before in my life. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"Gee, thanks for all the support, Bella." He replied dryly while shaking his head.

"It's not that! No, I'm just so relieved!" I said between giggles.

"Relieved?" he asked me looking at me like I really had lost all my marbles, "why would you be relieved?"

"Yes because, honestly Jazz, Alice likes you too. She wanted me to find out if you liked her. But I knew you said you had a crush on Irina. So I was worried I would have to report back to her with that."

"Wow," Jazz said with a huge smile on his face, "Alice really likes me…" he said more to himself than me.

"Yes, Jazz she does. Now don't tell her I told you."

"Well then what am I supposed to do?"

"Maybe you should just go ask her out?"

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Just go up to her and say, 'Alice, I know that you only see me as a friend but I really like you and was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me?' or something like that." I supplied.

"Do you think that would really work?" he asked.

"I don't know. But she likes you so she'll definitely say yes."

"You can't be so sure. What if she decides to say no?"

"She won't! Now are you gonna ask her out or not?"

"I will." He replied, determined.

"You better. Maybe I should just tell her you like her…"

"NO!" Jasper all but shouted at me. He looked around to see if we had gotten the attention of Alice and Rose or the boys. We were to far away for them, they were still talking and hadn't noticed Jasper's outburst. "I'll ask her out for this weekend."

"Saturday," I said, "Sunday we're going to The Annual 'End of Summer' Carnival, remember?"

"Oh yeah, okay I'll ask her out for this Saturday."

"Do you know what you're gonna do on this date?"

Poor Jasper! He just looked so lost. "I have no idea."

"Never fret. I'll help you and I'm sure Rose would love to help as well."

"Rose! I forgot about her!"

"How did you possibly forget about Rose?" I said with a chuckle.

"Do you think she'd really help?" Jasper questioned.

"Of course she would! You're her brother and Alice is her best friend."

"You're right. Come on Jacob and his friends just left."

"Okay, so are you gonna ask her out right now in front of me and Rose? Or are you gonna get her alone and ask?"

"I want to ask her alone but how do I—

"Leave that to me." I told him. We had barely reached Rose and Alice.

"Hey guys, took you long enough!" Rose teased.

"Well we couldn't have Jacob bothering Bella here." Jasper said.

"Ha-ha!" I said, "Rose can you come with me real quick? I forgot my phone in your car and I wanted to give Charlie a call and I don't want to run into Jacob alone—Lord knows what I'll do to that boy."

"Yeah, the Lord knows. You are truly one of a kind Bella!" Rose laughed, "Sure, I'll come with you." Rose chuckled as she got up from her spot.

We left Jasper and Alice and headed towards her car. It was quite a ways off so Jasper would definitely have enough time to ask Alice out before we got back.

"Now, I know you didn't forget your phone in my car because its right there in your pocket," Rose said indicating towards my jean shorts, "What are you up to?" She inquired.

"Well I wanted to give Jasper and Alice some privacy." Might as well tell the truth.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, her eyebrows scrunching together.

"Jasper really didn't want to have to ask Alice out on a date for this Saturday in front of us."

"Shut-up! No way!" she said as her jaw dropped.

"Um, yes way."

"But," she sputtered, "does Alice like Jasper?"

"Yeah, she told me last night. I was supposed to find out if Jazz liked her back. He does. He told me he really likes Alice so I told him to ask her out. Just now when I escaped from Jake."

"How come nobody tells me anything anymore?" Rose whined. I just laughed at her. "Seriously though! I thought you were the one that liked Jasper! Now I find out its Alice!" I choked on my own laughter.

"Me? Like Jasper?" I spat out, she nodded her head, "No way! Jasper is my best friend! He's like my brother!"

"Well I guess I know that now!" Rose said as we were only a few feet away from her car.

"Well good. How could you even think that?"

"Explains why you never said yes to Jake." She shrugged.

"I've never said yes to Jake because he is annoying and pushy and I don't see him as my boyfriend. Just my friend." I told her—for like the millionth time.

"Okay, okay. Don't get your panties in a twist." I rolled my eyes at her.

"I can't believe Alice likes Jasper and Jasper likes Alice! She never told me! He never told me!"

"Is it that hard to believe? And she barely told me last night. Apparently she's been really missing him over this past summer and finally understood her feelings after seeing him again."

"Wow. So what about you? If its not Jacob or Jasper that you like, who do you like?" Rose mused.

"I don't like anyone Rosalie." I told her. It was the truth and she could see that in my eyes—I was the worst liar in the history of the world. "What about you? Anybody special caught your eye." I inquired, not expecting anything really. To my complete and utter surprise Rosalie Hale actually had a sheepish look on her face as she muttered out a weak—almost inaudible—"no."

"Rosalie Lillian Hale! Don't you dare give me that! What's his name?" I said latching onto her arm.

"Uh! Fine!" she surrendered as she shook me off of her arm. "I met him in New York but he's actually from around here."

"Around here?" I questioned.

"Seattle." She supplied.

"Have I met him?" Though I was seriously doubting that.

"No."

"Has Jasper met him?"

"Yeah," she admitted weakly. I arched an eyebrow. "He doesn't exactly like him." At this both my eyebrows raised.

"And you're what? Secretly dating?" I asked alarmed.

"Bella! Shut up before someone over hears! Yes I am dating him without Jasper's knowledge if that is what you are asking."

"Of course that is what I am asking! How in the world are you supposed to keep this from Jasper? He'll figure it out. You know he will!"

"With your help?" Rose questioned and answered. "Please Bella! Please! Don't tell my brother."

"How am I supposed to do that? Jasper knows everything about me and he will know when I am hiding something from him! Just today he knew I was avoiding him because of the whole Alice has a crush on him thing!"

"Please Bella! He wants to take me out this Saturday." Rose pouted.

"That's the same day Jazz wants to take Alice out."

"Will you do this for me please?"

"Fine! But you owe me big!"

"Thank-you _sooo_ much! And how 'bout I just keep Jacob away. He's headed this way." Rose announced. I groaned—out loud this time.

"What's his name?" I questioned her.

"Royce King."

* * *

**Okay so there it is. Rosalie and Jasper have made an appearance! As well as Jacob! Jasper and Alice may very well be going on a date in the next chapter! And if Rosalie has her way she will be going on a date with Royce King—behind Jasper's back! Oh My!**

**Please review! Tell me what you think! Do you like it or not?**


	4. Date Night

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer therefore, I do not own Twilight. I do, however, own Mel, Kris, Lynn, Jenny, and Sandy.**

**To Anonymous Reader: Thank-you so much for reviewing my story. I'm glad you like it so far.**

**AN: Here's chapter three. Once again it's a little OOC and a couple of POV changes. Sorry for any errors.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Date Night**

**Bella Swan**

I entered Alice's room and barely managed to duck out of the way of the shoe that came hurdling my way. It hit the door with quite a loud thud.

"Alice!" I shouted to her. She barely glanced my way before diving back into her closet.

"Alice! That could have hit me! In the face!"

"Sorry Bella! Hey, have you seen my yellow sequined top?"

"Umm… no. I thought you already picked out your outfit Alice? Like as soon as we got home from the beach?"

"I did! But then I changed my mind." I groaned. She went diving back into her closet. I marched right over there—well, as best as I could without tripping over the mountains of clothes and accessories—and pulled her out and sat her down on her bed.

"Alice!" she simply raised her eyebrows at me and gave a little indignant huff. "Jasper is going to be here in about half an hour. You need to calm down! I suggest starting with a couple of deep breaths."

"But Bella—

The look I gave her must have been enough to tell her she really needed to take a chill pill. I headed over to her closet and started rummaging around. Fashion wasn't really my thing and in a situation such as this Rosalie would probably be here but she was "mysteriously" absent from helping Alice. I just shook my head. It couldn't be that difficult—after all, I did know exactly where Jasper was taking Alice. I pulled out an emerald green dress with spaghetti straps that was modest and fell to Alice's knees. I then pulled out a pair of Alice's black 5 inch stilettos—ones very similar to the kind she tried to force at me.

"Here," I said, setting the outfit down next to her, "This should do the trick. Oh!" I walked passed her and picked up her black French beret with the flower in it—the same color as her dress—and set it down with the rest of the clothes. I walked back over to her closet and pulled out the trench coat that she just bought a couple of weeks ago. "That should do it. You just need to do your hair and make-up."

Alice just looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

"So you can find me a perfect outfit for my first date with Jasper but you can't pick out a simple stylish outfit for yourself every morning?" she inquired.

"Oh whatever, Alice," I said while rolling my eyes, "you know if it weren't for me you'd still be digging in your closet. You're just lucky I know exactly where Jazz is taking you tonight."

"You are right. I'm sorry for that. I'm just really nervous."

"No problem. This is very big for the both of you." Alice nodded her head in agreement. "Now get ready! You have less than half an hour before he gets here!"

"Yes ma'am!" she said as she mock saluted me. Something that I would constantly do to her when she was trying to get me to get ready in the morning.

* * *

I wandered downstairs to see Charlie sitting down at the long couch in the living room—that just so happened to face the front door—cleaning out his hunting guns and police hand gun.

"Dad? What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm just cleaning out my guns, Bells." As if he couldn't accomplish this chore earlier. I rolled my eyes.

"What I mean is why are you cleaning out your guns now, just five minutes before Jasper just happens to be coming to pick up Alice for their date? Hmm?"

There were many things that I had inherited from my father. Thick, mahogany-colored hair; milk-chocolate brown eyes; pale skin; the love of a Saturday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs, two slices of fried bacon and buttered toast with sugar on the side; the needlessness of filling long silences with boring, nervous chatter; compassion towards the people and things we loved.

Unfortunately, the one thing I did not inherit from him was the acting skills. My dad knew how to be all cool, calm, and collected. That was a good thing considering he was the Chief of Police. Basically he was able to lie without being called on it. I on the other hand—as mentioned before and constantly told to me by everyone I know—couldn't lie to save my own life.

"Oh, that's tonight?" he replied.

"Dad!" I reprimanded.

"Don't worry Bells, I'll be on my best behavior." I rolled my eyes: _yeah, right_.

Before I could enforce it the door bell rang. Obviously Jasper and right on time. I threw my dad another warning glance and went to answer the door. And there stood an extremely, nervous looking Jasper.

"Hi Bells."

"Jazz," I acknowledged. "Come on in." I gestured for him to enter. "And don't be so nervous." I whispered. "Also, I apologize now for any drilling and/or threats made by Charlie." His eyes seemed to widen at this news. As if the prospects of having Chief Swan interrogate him about his date with the girl he raised for the past five—almost six—years never occurred to him.

"Hello there, Jasper. Good to see you again, son." I almost groaned out loud. Dad was still cleaning his guns. I saw Jasper gulp but he replied in calm, easy manner.

"Hello, sir. Good to see you as well. How have you been this past summer?"

"I've been well. So you're taking Alice out on a date?"

"That's the plan, sir."

Charlie nodded his head but before he could say anything else to Jasper, I jumped in and said I was going to get Alice. I dashed up the stairs—amazingly with out tripping and I headed into her bedroom.

"Allie! Jazz is downstairs! Hurry up, Charlie is grilling him and cleaning his guns at the same time!"

* * *

**Alice Brandon**

Bella quickly rushed into my room for the second time tonight.

"Allie! Jazz is downstairs! Hurry up, Charlie is grilling him and cleaning his guns at the same time!" She said in a rush.

"Okay, I'm ready!" I replied as I finished putting on a coat of lip gloss.

"Good! Now get down there Char—

"Wait?" I said, her earlier words catching up to me. "Did you just say that Charlie was drilling him and cleaning out his guns? Oh my gosh! That is so sweet!"

"_Sweet_?" Bella replied, eyebrows raised. "Okay, whatever, Alice." Bella rolled her eyes and left my room as I grabbed my purse and closed the door to my room.

Bella walked down the stairs ahead of me. I slowly went down after her and locked my gaze on Jasper. His eyes were wide and he looked star struck? Maybe… I couldn't help but giggle.

"Hi Jasper!" I smiled.

"Hello Alice. You look beautiful." Jasper replied.

Before he could say or do anything else Charlie cleared his throat and I broke my gaze away from Jasper and turned my head towards the man who was like a second father to me growing up and even more so in the past five years.

"What time do you think you'll be back?" he asked keeping his gaze or rather glare locked on Jasper trying to make him squirm.

"We'll be back by half past ten, sir." Jasper replied. Charlie looked appeased—seeing as my curfew was eleven. Had to admit this was a good tactic that Jasper was playing out.

"Make sure to take care of her." Charlie warned.

"Of course, sir." The words spoken by Jasper were simple enough, but they were strong and there was something there in the tone of his voice and his eyes were intense as he promised Charlie my safety.

"Charlie nodded and Jasper moved towards the door. Bella came over and gave my hand a squeeze—wishing me luck. I smiled and then walked over to Charlie giving him a hug.

"Thank-you!" I whispered in his ear. "And don't worry—I have my pepper spray."

"Good!" Charlie chuckled. I released him and walked towards Jasper who had gotten my coat off the hook and was holding it open for me.

"Have fun, you two." Charlie said. Jasper and I both smiled and walked out the door.

In the front yard was his own car that he'd gotten as an early seventeenth birthday present.

He held the passenger side door open for me and once I was in he went around to the driver's side and started the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked, bouncing in my seat.

"Oh no. I'm not telling you anything. You are going to have to learn to be surprised."

"Hmpf." I pouted. Don't get me wrong. I love surprises! But it's really hard to surprise me so most people don't even try. When people do try to surprise me, I get excited and a little bit…impatient because I'm not used to it.

"Oh well," I said getting back to my happier mood—I was on a date with Jasper after all. "I really do like surprises!"

"Good, I'm sure you'll like this." He smiled.

* * *

Jasper had distracted me the whole way there. We had just arrived in Port Angeles and I was wondering where exactly we could be going. Obviously somewhere formal… I looked over at Jasper again and took in what he was wearing. Black dress shoes, black slacks, and a dark blue dress shirt that contrasted nicely with his cobalt eyes.

I didn't have to wait long though, as we pulled up to the restaurant. I immediately started bouncing in my seat.

"Here?" I asked.

"Yup." He said smiling, pleased by my reaction.

_Though how could I not be smiling? _I was on a date with Jasper and he's taking me to a beautiful restaurant that happened to have a dance floor area. _Dinner and dancing! How romantic!_

Jasper put the car in neutral and got out and came around to my side of the car and opened my door before the valet could. Jazz let the valet walk towards his car but stopped to talk with him. Probably warning him to take care of his "baby". _Boys and their cars…_

He then came over to me and offered me his arm. Of course I took it! I'd have to be a fool not to!

"After you." Jasper said as he opened the door to the restaurant.

"Why, thank-you; such a gentlemen." I could tell I was beaming.

When we went up to the hostess, it seemed she only had eyes for Jasper. She didn't seem pleased at how closely we were standing to each other.

"Reservations under Whitlock for two." Jasper said.

"Yes, of course. Right this way." The hostess said.

She led us past some tables and around the dance floor area coming to a table for two.

"Here you are." She said—staring at Jasper. "If there's anything at all I can help you with, just ask for Lucy." The tall, blond woman said.

"Uh… yeah… sure, thank-you." Jasper replied. He sounded a little uncomfortable about the whole situation.

Lucy turned and left—but not before she added a little more wiggle to her step.

"Hmpf." I turned to Jasper, who was pulling out a chair and offering for me to sit down. I smiled at him and quickly obliged. It was only the hostess after all. And he didn't even watch her walk away.

"So, aside form the hostess, were you surprised?" Jazz asked.

"Yes I was—am very surprised, pleasantly so." I smiled at him.

Before he could respond to me, the waitress came sauntering over.

"I'm Maria, I'll be your waitress for this evening. What would you like to drink?" I didn't miss that she was only talking to Jasper. Well, I didn't let the hostess bother me and I was certainly not going to let this waitress bother me either.

"Hmm…" Jasper mused, "I don't know. Alice what would you like?" He asked never looking away from my face.

"I would like Dr. Pepper, please."

"Make that two Dr. Pepper's."

"Okay, I'll be right back with those." Maria assured to Jasper. Once she was gone I rolled my eyes.

"Aside from the hostess _and the waitress_, I am pleasantly surprised to be here." I declared to Jasper.

"Good, I'm glad." He smiled.

"Do you think, after we eat—

"We might go dancing?" He finished for me. I nodded my head up and down really fast. Jasper laughed at my antics.

"Of course, Alice."

Just then, Maria came up with our drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" She questioned—again only looking at Jasper. And just like before, Jasper looked at me and asked what I wanted.

"I would like the Ratatouille." I said taking a quick glance down at my menu. Once I ordered she immediately turned to Jasper.

"I'll have the same." He said after looking down at the menu.

"Okay, I'll have your order soon." Maria promised.

I rolled my eyes as she walked away; this girl seriously did not know how to get a clue.

We continued to talk about this and that when Maria came back and set down our plates. Jasper studiously ignored her as she tried to tell him that if he needed anything else that he could call her immediately.

I smirked as she walked off in a huff for being ignored.

Dinner was pretty pleasant. As soon as we finished we had barely pushed back our plates when Maria came up and asked what we wanted for desert. I told her what I wanted and Jasper—in an obvious bid to get rid of her sooner rather than later—told her to double the order.

"So, while we are waiting for our deserts, would you like to dance?"

"Yes!" I said, immediately getting up from my seat. Jasper chuckled and led me out to the dance floor.

We danced through about three songs before Jasper reminded me that we had our deserts waiting for us at our tables. I pouted but complied. At least Maria had decided not to hang around and point out that our deserts were waiting for us.

* * *

**Bella Swan**

I was pacing in my room. It was around midnight. Alice had been home for a couple of hours now. She'd come home so happy and excited: she relayed every single detail to me. I was seriously happy for my sister and my best friend and I'm pretty sure Alice didn't see through me because she never questioned me or looked at me strangely.

I sighed. I had checked on Alice and she was sleeping peacefully. I also went downstairs to make sure my dad was asleep. He was; I could hear him snoring, lightly, in his room.

Where was she?

Rosalie was supposed to be spending the night at my older sister's, Tanya's, house. Rosalie was supposed to be there by eleven pm—no later. Yet here I am, pacing my bedroom just after midnight, Blackberry in hand—on vibrate—waiting for Tanya to call or text saying Rose made it there safely.

In retrospect—or now that everything is going down—I should have said no in helping Rose tonight. Jasper didn't trust this Royce-guy, so why should I? Well one thing was for sure. I was never helping Rose again. This Royce was bad news. He is so on my list.

I was mostly fuming but as the clock ticked closer to one in the morning I became more and more worried. I was just strengthening my resolve in calling Jasper and telling him everything when my phone started going off in my hand. I almost dropped it but quickly pressed the green 'talk' button.

"Hello?" I quickly breathed into the phone.

"Bella, it's me Tanya." My older sister replied.

"Tanya, is Rose there? Is she okay?" I had to work to keep my voice calm.

"Yes, Rose just got here." Tanya paused and then continued. "She's okay right now. Shoe won't be in the morning." I took a couple of deep breaths.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Bella, Rose kind of stumbled in…"

"Stumbled?"

"Bella, she's really drunk."

"Drunk?" I think my voice broke through two octaves.

"Bella! Calm down! You have Alice just down the hall from you and Charlie is downstairs." Tanya reminded me. I really was working to keep myself calm. But drunk? Rosalie had come home drunk?

She was so dead!

Here I was worrying about her when she was out partying with that jerk that got her drunk and couldn't even get her home at a decent hour!

"Bella? Are you okay?" Tanya asked quietly.

"No, I'm not. How could Rose do that? I'm sorry. I hope she's not causing anymore trouble than she already has." I immediately apologized to my big sister. After all, I had been texting her every ten minutes and she had stayed up this late to wait for my friend and then said friend comes in super late and drunk.

"It's fine Bella. Rose is a pretty compliant drunk. She's here, in my room, sleeping."

"Well she's gonna need it. Considering the nasty hangover she's gonna have in the morning."

"So, how exactly is she getting home again?"

"She was supposed to take a cab but knowing now that she's drunk and gonna have a hangover, I kind of want to be there—just to annoy the hell out of her."

"You're going to drive up to Seattle?" Tanya asked.

"I'm going to have to. Darn! I'm also going to have to wake up at four to leave here by five and get to your house by eight, pick her up and then get back to Forks by eleven because of the "End of Summer" Carnival!" I complained. On the other end Tanya let out a low whistle.

"Looks like you only have three hours of sleep ahead of you, baby sis." I briefly smiled at the name.

"Yeah, I guess so." I sighed. "I'll see you in seven hours."

"See you then, love you." Tanya said.

"Love you, too, sis. Bye." With that I hit the little red "end" key on my Blackberry then set the alarm for four am and shoved it underneath my pillow.

* * *

*Buzz*Buzz*Buzz*

I reached underneath my pillow as my alarm on my phone went off. It seemed like I barely had closed my eyes before I was waking up again. I struggled out of bed and went to use the bathroom across the hall. I quickly brushed my hair until there were no knots, brushed my teeth, and washed my face. I decided I would put on a little make up for the day—that way if I was late Alice wouldn't chew me out for not looking presentable. So I curled my lashes and put on some mascara and eyeliner and some foundation and powder—I didn't really need that though, my skin was already pale and translucent enough. I didn't even bother with the blush, knowing me I would create my own. Once I was finished I went back to my room and quickly changed into the outfit Alice picked for me to wear. I quickly slipped on a pair of black "no show" ankle socks and grabbed my black converse and blackberry.

I easily snuck past Alice's room and took a peak in. she was still sleeping but I knew she'd be up within the hour. I quickly made my way downstairs and looked out the front window—my dad was already gone to help set up with the carnival. I grabbed my keys of the hook and slipped out of the house.

Rosalie was so dead! It was freezing cold outside and I was wearing dark denim shorts, a midnight blue tank top with a matching midnight blue cardigan sweater. I slipped on my shoes and stuffed my phone into my pocket. I desperately tried not to think of the cold as I reached out and snatched Rose's spare car key from behind the eave. I took off towards her car—which was parked a block from my house.

Once I reached her car I quickly got in and turned up the heat. I backed up and drove off.

* * *

It was just under three hours later that I was pulling onto Tanya's street. As I pulled up to her house I noted the family SUV, which Carmen usually drove, and the little black Audi, Tanya's car, were both parked in the drive way. I also noted that Eleazar's Mercedes was absent but there was a huge red jeep that reminded me of a hummer was parked up front. They must have guests I mused as I got out of Rose's M3.

It was freezing here! Rose was so dead! On the drive over I had worked to keep myself calm but that literally went out the door when I stepped out of the car. I, stiffly, marched my way up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A couple of seconds later, Tanya answered the door.

"Hey." She said as she enveloped me in a hug. She must have felt me shivering because she looked down at my attire. "What—

"Alice."

"Oh. Well, come in and get warm!" I quickly complied.

"So where is she?"

"Rose just woke up. She's in the kitchen, making up a fuss…Like I said, major hangover."

"Damn. I'm so sorry, Tanya."

"Don't mention it. And also, we have two friends from school here…" Tanya trailed off. Either she was trying to warn me, that I shouldn't embarrass her and her "sisters" or myself, they don't know that Tanya and I are sisters or she wants me to get Rose and get out. I sighed, probably a combination of all three.

"Yeah, don't worry." I told her. A vague answer that covered the things she was probably most worried about.

"Okay, come here." Tanya said. We barely made it through the kitchen doorway. I did not see Rose at all. What I did see was at the table across from my cousins, Kate and Irina, were two boys. One was muscular to the extreme with curly brown hair and hazel green eyes—eighteen at the least. It was the other boy, though, that caught and held my attention. He was pale, and had the strangest colored hair; like auburn or bronze. It was styled in messy disarray. He was less bulky than the boy sitting next to him but through the nicely fitted black muscle tee he was wearing I could tell he wasn't lanky. And then there were his eyes. They were like an emerald green that seemed to darken to a forest green when he stared back into my eyes. The exchange continued even after Tanya started the introductions.

"Bella, this is Emmett Cullen," she started gesturing to the older looking one. "And this is his brother, Edward Cullen." She finished gesturing to the boy I was still staring at. "Guys, this is Bella Swan, my cousin." Well at least she didn't call me 'Isabella'.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bella." Edward said, his voice like velvet, still staring at me.

"Nice to meet you, too, Edward." I smiled, my voice sounded normal and I realized, after only saying his name once, I liked saying his name. I also liked him saying my name. "You, as well, Emmett." I acknowledged, finally tearing my eyes away from Edward. Emmett smirked at me and nodded—seems he noticed mine and Edward's little staring contest.

"Hello Bella." I couldn't help it—I blushed and both Emmett and Edward chuckled. I turned to Irina and Kate. They both got up and gave me a hug.

"Goodness! Bella you're freezing!" Irina said as she stepped away.

"I know, thanks for reminding me!" out of the corner of my eye I noted that Edward was watching me and I could see him running his eyes down my body.

"Seriously, shorts? In Forks?" Kate questioned.

"Yes, its supposed to be sunny today and Alice dressed me for the occasion."

"Ah, Alice, say no more." Irina and Kate laughed.

"How is she?" Tanya asked from beside me.

"She's doing great. Over the moon, right now." I said.

"Oh? What's got her so happy?" Tanya asked.

I smiled showing all my teeth, "Jasper." I replied.

"Jasper?" the three blondes all exclaimed, at once.

"Yeah, they had their first date yesterday. Alice came home super ecstatic. Jasper asked her to be his girlfriend." I filled them in.

"Oh my goodness! I can't believe she didn't tell me!" Tanya exclaimed. I just smiled.

"Umm… where's Rosalie?" I said looking around.

"Took off towards the bathroom just after Tanya got up to answer the door." Kate said. I just shook my head. How could she do this? My eyes wandered back to the two Cullens still sitting at the dining room table watching the four of us converse.

"So… was I interrupting much?" I asked them.

"Oh not much." Irina replied. "We were just having breakfast with Edward and Emmett while their parents and ours went out together."

I nodded my head, I was about to ask how long they had known each other but Rose chose that moment to walk back into the kitchen. She was holding her hand to her head. When she looked up and saw me standing there she froze.

"Bella? What are you doing here?"

I raised my left brow. Did she really think I wouldn't show up?

* * *

**Well it's been forever since I thought of how this chapter should go and I finally got it all done. **

**I didn't write the end of the date from Alice's point of view in this chapter because I had an idea for the next chapter…**

**Tell me what you think! Review? Please?**


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